When should you adjust your mentoring goals?

As a mentor, it's crucial to demonstrate agility in goal management. I encourage you to actively listen to your mentees and leverage your expertise to collaboratively set, adapt, or refine their goals, envisioning a brighter future together.

You should adjust mentoring goals whenever they no longer resonate. You may set a goal and then through mentoring, realize that the goal was too small or that goal does not fit the vision of who you truly wish to become. You can, and you should, change that goal at any time to one that resonates more deeply with you.

+ If original goals are no longer realistic or relevant based on changing circumstances + If the mentee's interests and priorities have evolved + If you or the mentee have gained skills making original goals too basic + If mentee is struggling and original goals are now too advanced + If emerging challenges require a different focus than originally planned + If the mentoring relationship or approach needs realignment

Open and transparent communication with your mentee is key to understanding their needs and adjusting your goals accordingly. It's also important to approach adjustments with a positive and supportive attitude, ensuring that the mentoring relationship remains a source of growth and development for your mentee

+ During periodic check-ins and reviews of progress + When measurable data shows goals are unachievable + When mentee explicitly requests a change in focus + After career changes, promotions or new opportunities + When timelines are too aggressive or too relaxed + If engagement is low and a reset is required + When mentor's organization changes strategic priorities + After reflections identifying mismatch with needs or interests

Goal-setting in a mentoring relationship is a collaborative process that should be reviewed and adjusted regularly. * Use SMART, SWOT, and the GROW model to set and adjust specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals for both the mentor and mentee. * Be open to changing your goals based on what you're learning from each other and any major life or career changes for the mentee. * Don't rely solely on surveys and quizzes to measure the mentee's progress. Regular conversations are essential for gaining valuable insights and discussing what goals have been reached and what has been learned. In short: Goal-setting in a mentoring relationship is an ongoing process that requires flexibility and open communication.

Maintain a high bar for making changes. Ask yourself is the goal fundamentally invalidated as a result of changes? Have your mentor inspect that as well. This ensures that you don’t unnecessarily churn on goals. Also, maintain a change log for history tracking/reference.

Don't be shy to change your course at any point of your journey, if you feel that you need it. But also don't forget about some of the resistance you can have within your way to your goals. Sometimes, the way can be a bit unpleasant and even hard. And you should learn how to distinguish when you really need to change your mentoring goals, or when you are just a bit afraid of the steps you have to take to accomplish your goals.

Hey there! If you're not feeling as excited or interested in your current goals as you used to, it might be a sign that they need a little tweaking. Don't worry, we all go through phases like this. Just take some time to reevaluate your aspirations and see if your goals still align with them. You got this!